Calgary, Alberta – The first official Bridgestone CSBK test at Rocky Mountain Motorsports concluded on Monday, with local star Torin Collins topping the timesheets at the private circuit just north of Calgary, Alberta.

 

Following a successful round three at Edmonton’s RAD Torque Raceway, the Canadian national series invited its competitors to make the trip to nearby Carstairs for a one-day test at RMM, with the goal of collecting data and information for a potential future race weekend.

 

The 18-turn, “chicane-layout” version of the track, featuring ten rights and eight lefts and numerous elevation changes, was popular with the pro paddock but described as a unique circuit with elements of various other tracks. 

Collins – the most recent winner in the feature GP Bikes Pro Superbike class – had prior experience at the venue located just north of his hometown in Calgary, and was the rider to beat all day as he topped every pro session aboard his Novalda Kawasaki.

 

The 18-year-old didn’t have to face all the same threats as this past weekend, as championship leader Ben Young, runner-up Sam Guerin, and former champion Alex Dumas were amongst the absences on Monday. 

 

However, he did have to go up against 14-time champion Jordan Szoke, with the two exchanging fast laps throughout the afternoon. Collins would ultimately set the fastest motorcycle lap ever recorded in the final session, a time of 1:41.174, with Szoke going second-best and just 0.986 off the front in his first ever trip to RMM.

 

While Collins admittedly has slightly more track time at the venue than most of the other riders in attendance, the rookie (who’s currently racing full-time in MotoAmerica) had nothing but good things to say about the day.

 

“It’s a fun track. It would be interesting for racing, it has some tight sections but I think there’s a lot of spots to pass still, and the asphalt is really good,” Collins said. “There would be some really fun races if CSBK came here. It’s physical, so it might be a bit of a tough race and the pace might drop off a bit, but I think it would be really cool.”

 

Despite lacking the experience of his younger counterpart at RMM, Szoke worked his way down to a very competitive time by the end of the day, going slightly faster than Collins’ previous unofficial lap record was at the start of the day.

 

The CKM Kawasaki rider opened up a near 1.5 second gap to the rest of the field, with Sebastien Tremblay going third-fastest on the day. The Turcotte Performance Suzukl rider was the lead Sport Bike rider on the day and very competitive with the Superbike field, a good launching point for a potential middleweight round in the future.

 

Home rider Philip DeGama-Blanchet was fourth and only marginally behind Tremblay for top honours in the Sport Bike ranks, posting a time of 1:44.360 aboard his Vass Performance Kawasaki.

 

Last year’s Sport Bike championship runner-up Matt Simpson turned in an excellent effort for PMR/Vass Performance BMW, going fifth-fastest with a time of 1:45.837 in just his first ever day riding a Superbike machine, filling in for Paul Macdonell. 

 

As for the most recent Sport Bike winner, teenager Andrew Van Winkle was sixth-fastest for FD Racing Suzuki, only 0.129 seconds behind Simpson for a spot in the top-five.

 

Pro Rookie of the Year frontrunner Connor Campbell was seventh on the day, putting in a number of late improvements for B&T MacFarlane/Kubota Kawasaki to put himself just 0.020 seconds clear of fellow star rookie Mavrick Cyr aboard the Economy Lube Ducati.

 

Photos and times from the official test can be found on the series’ official website.

 

For more information on the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca

 

Edmonton, Alberta – Ben Young escaped with a crucial and dramatic victory at RAD Torque Raceway on Saturday, fending off Torin Collins in a last-lap duel at the third round of the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship.

 

Edmonton, Alberta – The Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship produced another new GP Bikes Pro Superbike winner on Sunday, as wildcard Torin Collins came out on top of a thrilling battle with Alex Dumas in race two at RAD Torque Raceway.

 

The two young talents first had to fight through championship leader Ben Young, who got a terrific start from pole position and led for the opening four laps, but all the chaos kicked off on lap five as Young got a bad launch out of the final corner and was passed by both riders into turn one – including a brave move around the outside by Collins.

 

The pair would quickly break away from Young and begin their showdown, with Collins attempting a number of passes and Dumas slamming the door each time. It appeared as though Dumas may have secured the win after a brilliant move to put lapped traffic between himself and Collins late in the race, but Collins immediately reeled the 2021 champion back in with five laps to go.

 

The Calgary native would then make the decisive move one lap later, barging his way through on Dumas with an aggressive pass in turn 12 to take the lead and promptly stretching out a slight advantage, one he would hold the rest of the way en route to a spectacular maiden victory.

 

The win puts Collins firmly in the CSBK record books, becoming the third-youngest Pro Superbike winner in history at 18 years old and 347 days (ironically surpassing Dumas by eleven days), and becoming the second-fastest rider to win a feature class race after doing so in just his second start.

 

“I got a bad start again, but today I just didn’t want to waste any time so I put my head down right away and was able to get around Ben on the outside in turn one,” Collins said. “I didn’t know how I was going to get past Alex, he was just so strong everywhere, so I kind of just went for it. We did make a little bit of contact – I hope he’s not too upset about that – but rubbing is racing!”

 

The stunning victory also proved to be a historic one for Kawasaki, as the Novalda-sponsored rider handed the manufacturer their 75th all-time Superbike victory, despite piloting a privateer machine he normally only uses for testing.

 

As for his future in Canada, Collins wouldn’t rule out a return to the CSBK paddock, as he juggles his duties with Altus Suzuki in the MotoAmerica Supersport championship.

 

“Obviously my commitment is to the current MotoAmerica season, but if there’s no conflicts, I’m open to anything,” Collins admitted. “I knew this was a great series, but even still I’ve been pleasantly surprised. It’s a lot of fun and the grid is really strong, so I definitely won’t close any doors.”

 

As for Dumas, the newly-minted Economy Lube Ducati rider will be forced to leave Edmonton without a win, but his third and second-place finishes will still represent a fantastic return to the series after missing the opening two rounds.

 

“It was a fun race, I’m pretty happy with most of it. There was a bit of contact, for sure, but I knew Torin was faster than me in some spots so I had to defend hard,” Dumas said. “I really wanted the top step of the podium today, but I’m happy to be back in CSBK and I can’t thank Steve Moxey and Economy Lube enough for the opportunity.”

 

While it was an unusually quiet third-place finish for Young, the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW rider admitted that once he lost the lead he was content with avoiding any unnecessary drama between the two non-title contenders.

 

“Congrats to these two, they both rode unbelievably well and it’s nice to have another new winner in the series,” Young said. “We had some front-end issues yesterday that I thought were resolved, but then I lost a lot of drive and they both got by me. After that I knew they were really going to push the issue and race hard, so I just kept the championship in mind.”

 

Despite his worst result of the season, Young would manage his 12th consecutive podium (the fourth-longest streak of all-time) and exit Edmonton with a 34-point lead, a much higher total than the eleven-point gap he held coming into round three.

 

That advantage was aided by Jordan Szoke in fourth, who held off title challenger Sam Guerin in an exciting battle further back. The two both ran with Young for majority of the race, with Szoke even attempting a few daring passes on his old rival, but their late duel would prove to be insufficient for Guerin as he settled for fifth.

 

David MacKay put his race one crash behind him and finished a much-needed sixth on Sunday, retaining fourth overall in the championship as he continues to build momentum for ODH Snow City Cycle Honda. 

 

Local star Brian Worsdall was seventh, battling with fellow Alberta native Philip DeGama-Blanchet before Worsdall separated himself late on for Mots Machining Honda.

 

DeGama-Blanchet would take eighth for Vass Performance Kawasaki and move into third in the Brooklin Cycle Racing Pro Rookie of the Year fight, albeit 31 points behind his close friend Collins, who takes over the award lead from Connor Campbell.

 

Collins’ victory will also help boost Kawasaki’s hopes in the Constructors Championship, cutting their deficit to 71 points behind leaders BMW and giving them a larger cushion over third-place Honda, who are also coming under fire from Ducati with the addition of Dumas to the mix.

 

The series will now get two full weeks of recovery before venturing east to Atlantic Motorsport Park, with round four getting underway in Nova Scotia, July 12-14. 

Full results from Sunday’s action can be found on the series’ official website.

For more information on the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca

Edmonton, Alberta – A change in venues couldn’t prevent Ben Young from snatching pole position on Friday, as he captured his third consecutive BS Battery Pole award in a scorching qualifying session at RAD Torque Raceway.

 

Visiting the Edmonton circuit for the first time in his career, Young immediately moved to the top of Q1 behind a time of 1:17.947 and exited with a comfortable advantage, securing his entry to the top-ten Q2 session.

 

Torin Collins and Jordan Szoke would gradually chip away at the Q1 deficit, but it would be inconsequential as all three lapped safely inside the top-ten. However, the same was not true for Alex Dumas, who set a new lap record earlier in the day in FP1.

 

Having completed just one flying lap, Dumas went straight off at turn seven with a rear brake issue and sat parked for the remainder of Q1, tumbling down the order and clinging to a Q2 spot with a time of 1:20.642.

 

Ultimately, Dumas would narrowly squeeze through in eighth and allow the Economy Lube Ducati team to make the necessary repairs prior to Q2, setting up a showdown between himself, Young, Collins, and Szoke for pole.

 

There was little to separate the quartet early in the final session, as Young paced the field from Collins, Szoke, and Dumas with less than a half-second covering them all.

 

However, Young would blitz the timesheets around the midway point of Q2, lowering Dumas’ lap record time from the morning with a new best of 1:17.374, almost a half-second clear of the previous lap record from 2015.

 

That seemed like an insurmountable gap, but Collins would put in a late time attack to inch closer to what would have been a historic pole position, putting his Novalda Kawasaki within 0.137 seconds of Young but eventually settling for second.

 

That preserved a third consecutive pole for Young and the Van Dolder’s Home Team BMW squad and the 16th of his Superbike career, putting him at the front for both feature class races this weekend.

 

Dumas would salvage a dramatic third and the final spot on the front row, climbing to within 0.132 seconds of Collins as only 0.269 seconds blanketed the lead trio.

 

Szoke would lose a bit of steam in the final stints of Q2 but managed to put himself a strong fourth on the grid and at the front of row two, less than a second from pole. 

 

Centering the second row will be round two breakout winner Sam Guérin, who closed the gap to the front over his two qualifying sessions but would still wind up fifth, only marginally behind Szoke aboard his EFC Group BMW.

 

David MacKay found over a full second of improvement in Q2 to place his ODH Snow City Cycle Honda into sixth and the end of row two, while fellow Honda rider Brian Worsdall will kick off row three in seventh, headlining the local contingent for the Mots Machining team.

 

Fellow EMRA star Tosh Gable will sit alongside him in eighth, while Sebastien Tremblay put his Turcotte Performance Suzuki just ahead of Paul Macdonell and the PMR/Vass Performance BMW team in the final places of the top-ten.

 

Young’s qualifying effort will extend his advantage in the BS Battery Pole Position Award standings, where he opens up a 16-point lead over Szoke and Guerin with only three rounds and 30 points left up for grabs.

 

Full results from Friday’s qualifying can be found on the series’ official website.

 

For more information on the Bridgestone Canadian Superbike Championship, visit www.csbk.ca